ABSTRACT
In 1998 the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was celebrated. One of the depressing features of this exceptionally far sighted moral catalogue is the gap between morality and reality. The lack of implementation of human rights standards poses the most serious challenge to the international human rights regime. The most important issue for the significance and validity of the regime is the realization of the standards it proposes. It is urgent to make a concerted effort toward a more effective implementation of the human rights regime in the 21st century. If we fail, there will be no reason to celebrate the centenary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
